Not So Overrated
by houseprodigy
Summary: A VDay fic. Roy Mustang hates Valentine's Day, and for good reasons, but how bad could it be when a certain young alchemist pays him a visit? RoyxEd


Roy Mustang didn't like Valentine's Day. No, he sure didn't. From the moment he woke up in his stark white-sheeted bed in his seemingly plain apartment to the moment he went to bed much later that night, all he could think of was how much he wanted the day to be over.

One would think that someone of the young colonel's stature and reputation would love such a holiday. All of the attention he usually got on a regular basis would increase tenfold, people would smile and wave at him as he passed them by, and the world would seem as if all of the bad was driven from it for at least that day.

One would _think_.

But as the raven-haired man entered his office, the sight that met his eyes which would make any normal person swell with pride only made him cringe. He'd known this would happen. He was seeing red.

Quite literally. There was red everywhere he looked. It was maddening.

He really didn't like Valentine's Day.

In fact, he was most certain he _loathed_ it, and made a mental note to request some vacation time through the middle of February.

For most of the morning, as a sort of present (and partially out of pure sympathy), Lt. Hawkeye helped him sort through the mess of well-wishing paraphernalia. For a short while, Havoc had even stopped in and offered to help, but after an hour of listening to him groan and complain about how "lucky" Roy was, the colonel finally put his foot down and promptly kicked the man out of his office.

By noon, most of the valentines were sorted through. If one didn't know any better, they would have thought that he was setting up shop in his office. In one corner, there was a florist shop's worth of flowers. In another, boxes of candy were stacked nearly to the ceiling. In front of his desk sat boxes in which the two had thrown all the cards and paper notes. Once in a while, out of good humor, Roy would mutter the word "pull," and Riza would casually toss a card of some sort out like a Frisbee. He would snap his fingers and smile in amusement at the sound of a card being reduced to ashes.

Finally, at a quarter past two, they finished with their tedious work, and Hawkeye left the office. Roy was elated, to say the least.

However, his relief was short-lived, for as the woman returned, he saw that she had in hand a rather large stack of papers, all of which he knew had his name on it--or would, by the end of the day.

Maybe.

The colonel could feel his stress level rising. It was turning out to be a typical Valentine's Day, filled with more work than even he was used to. As he felt himself sweat-drop at the massive stack of documents, he also heard the imminent click of a gun sounding in his ear.

Of course, he knew she wouldn't actually _fire_ her weapon, but he wasn't about to underestimate his blond female subordinate.

Just when he thought his day couldn't get any worse, he heard it. The entire _building_ heard it, no doubt. Edward Elric had returned from another escapade. From the sounds of it, it had been a dead end, and the sheer volume of the racket that the young prodigy was causing indicated an increase in paperwork.

Yes, the only thing he could possibly hate more than the accursed holiday, was the accursed holiday, plus immense amounts of paperwork, made only worse by a certain blond alchemist. A blond alchemist who was probably going to be the unfortunate soul to stomp on the Flame Alchemist's last nerve. Roy grabbed his gloves and pulled them off, placing them in the front drawer of his desk, thus removing the temptation to scorch the cause of the inevitable headache he was about to suffer.

The doors of the colonel's office were thrown open as a very irate Fullmetal Alchemist stormed in, dropping a manila folder on top of the slowly dwindling paperwork and standing back, looking as if expecting something.

This was a surprise to Roy, since he had been expecting a much larger display of…well, whatever it could be called that Ed did nowadays. It couldn't be called anger, because most angry people had some amount of control. It was far too subdued to be called complete rage, and the idea of calling the young Elric _dramatic_…wasn't that far from the truth. However, the phrase "drama queen" came to mind soon after, which invoked an urge to laugh--not the smartest thing to do, especially when dealing with a very irked alchemist.

Roy sighed, taking the folder and opening it. What he found surprised him even more than Edward's unusually reserved behavior. There had been no accidents, no destroyed buildings, angry villages, disgruntled settlements, displaced clergymen, or signs that anything had gone amiss at all. It was almost…boring.

Dark eyes peered out over the top of the folder to look at the teen still standing before the desk. Ed seemed to be acting like a human being for once. He still looked irritated at the fact that he even had to be in that position in the first place, but that was almost to be expected.

Still somewhat stunned, Roy set the folder down and folded his hands in front of him, trying to determine if there was something the young alchemist simply failed to tell him, or if it was a joke of some kind.

Ed peered back through narrowed golden irises. "What?"

_Predictable._ "May I ask, did you do _anything_ on your last mission, Fullmetal?"

The blond rolled his eyes, crossing his arms, and looking offended. "Of course I did. You have the stupid report. I even made sure it was legible this time."

Roy cocked an eyebrow and looked down at the papers before him. Sure enough, he could actually _read_ the handwriting. This was very odd. How could he have missed it? Perhaps it was because he was too busy noticing all the other peculiarities to bother noting penmanship. Besides, it had only been something to tease the younger alchemist about because…well, Roy loved to tease him. It amused him when the teen raged over absolutely nothing. He was actually pretty cute some of the time.

"_You're staring." _

"What?" the older man asked, confused.

Edward emitted a heavy sigh. "You were staring. What, are you going deaf _and _blind? I think your age is starting to catch up with you, old man."

"Old…," Roy repeated, trying to grasp what had been said. Finally, it hit him. The boy was making fun of him. "Wait, did you just call me--"

The blond groaned, walking around the desk and leaning over to stare his commanding officer dead in the face. He narrowed his eyes slightly.

Roy didn't know what to make of this. Usually, the only time he'd ever gotten remotely close to the younger male was when they were screaming at one another. He'd usually been too busy being angry to notice certain things…such as the way the light caught Edward's amber eyes, which illuminated his entire face and making him look almost angelic.

Edward's expression softened. "You look kinda tired."

Roy nodded, seemingly caught in the young alchemist's gaze. "Long day."

The blond smiled, reaching over to brush away some of the dark hair that had fallen near the older man's onyx-shaded eyes. His gloved hand slid across Roy's forehead to settle on the side of his face. His eyes seemed to be searching over the colonel's pale face, as if looking for something, or maybe just observing.

Suddenly, Edward leaned forward and pressed his lips against Roy's. Caught completely off-guard, the dark-haired man sat there, completely frozen in shock. As he realized what was happening, he slowly reached over and slid his hands through the teen's long golden hair, loosening the usually well-kempt braid. He was secretly glad that he'd decided to remove his gloves earlier, for he found that he enjoyed the feeling of the smaller male's hair.

The blond came closer, deepening the kiss and bringing his other gloved hand up to rest against Roy's shoulder. They continued exploring the warm confines of one another's mouth before reluctantly parting for air.

The dark-haired officer smirked at the blush staining the face of his younger subordinate. He knew that what he was witnessing was a rare thing. Very few got to see the older Elric so calm. It was a shame, because he was undeniably cute when he wasn't being annoying.

"Um…," Edward began, chewing on his bottom lip and looking at the floor. "The report…"

There it was. Roy felt it coming, the impending statement that would completely ruin the unusual peace that had settled between them in the last few awkward-but-pleasant moments.

The young alchemist sighed and looked up at Roy, his blush deepening. He leaned over again and quickly placed a chaste kiss on the older man's cheek. He pulled back, his face completely red, matching both his jacket and the plethora of holiday items that surrounded them.

"Happy Valentine's Day…bastard," he said softly, adding that last bit before turning and quickly exiting the office, much more quietly than he came.

Roy sat still for a moment, pondering the events that had just folded out before him. Suddenly, it all made sense: the unusual calm behavior, the mediocre report, the neat handwriting, the kiss…Edward had done it for him, all for Valentine's Day.

He stared at the door, subconsciously bringing his hand up to his lips. He shook his head, let out a low chuckle, and continued to work away at the paperwork, taking the report and placing it at the bottom of his personal papers to take home later.

He smirked, touching his lips briefly once again before laughing and placing his head down on his desk. Maybe he'd been wrong. Maybe Valentine's Day wasn't so bad, after all. He did know one thing, though…

Red was _definitely_ his new favorite color.


End file.
